Family, Personal

Family Documentary Photography | Oak Park, IL | October 2020

Smiling 6 month old baby
Hi, I'm Kristen!
I'm an award-winning senior portrait and family photographer based out of Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. I love sunshine, cacti, chocolate chips, and a great cup of tea - but most of all I love photographing joyful clients. :)
TOp categories
Classy and comfortable senior portraits!
Relaxed and easy family portraits. and stunning artwork
Smiling 6 month old baby

Six months already! Here’s October’s monthly blog to keep you current on what’s going on at the Hazelton Haus. New teeth, lots of Halloween costumes to try to “spark joy” a surprising amount of houseplants and an unsurprising amount of decorative gourds.

Smiling 6-month old baby
Baby looking out a window
Smiling 6-month old baby
Portraits of a four-year old boy

Tried to grab some “school portraits” for this cool kid. Alas, he would not stay put on the sidewalk and got in the grass.

Smiling baby, and baby rolled under table

She’s getting so good at rolling that we’ll put her down and come back to realize she’s in a very different location than she started.

In image one, my son is telling me he’s pretending he’s in Arizona with his Great Grandma and the spiky cucumbers are saguaro cactuses (we all love succulents and cacti here…it was hard to leave most of our succulents in California during the move).

In image two…The Pickle Saga begins. So the neighbors extremely nicely gave us cucumbers from their garden because my son was excited about pickling them. The problem is During This Time of Covid in the Hazelton Haus, ain’t nobody got time for that. I very loudly and dramatically told my son with husband pointedly in earshot that “The Pickle Fairy comes out at night and swaps cucumbers for pickles,” the idea being we’d toss the cukes in the compost and replace them with a storebought jar of pickles. My husband did not get the memo. After the kids were down for the night I said, “So, the Pickle Fairy?” and he said, “Yeah, time for me to make pickles?” Noooooooo. Totally went over his head. 🙁 Later in the month, the Pickle Fairy was also responsible for eating all of the chocolate chips and not sharing with my son. My husband informed him that Pickle Fairies (me) are bad at sharing. A few weeks later my son followed up with, “Can we go to Thatcher Woods to see fairies? I want to ask them why they won’t share their chocolate chips.” :[

Small boy loves his new master sword and Hylian shield

Sheer delight at his Master Sword and Hylian Shield for his Link from the Legend of Zelda costume.

Father holding baby dressed as a tiger

Our daughter “roars” when she’s sleepy, so we call her “baby tiger.” So of course we had to get a costume…

Baby dressed in a tiger costume
Baby dressed in a tiger costume

How I feel the day after Halloween.

Baby dressed in a tiger costume
Flowers in a green teapot

Some beautiful flowers from my sweet friend at Pickle Hill Parties. The teapot is from my mom.

Father and son wearing dragon cloaks

Costume number two for little guy – appropriate for in-person school.

Smiling 6 month old baby

We got a new rug for the kitchen! My daughter approves.

Smiling 6 month old baby in profile
Baby and older brother
Baby with big hair curl
4 pumpkins on a swing

Went out on the porch to see my son had made a pumpkin family on the swing.

2020 Pumpkin porch images
Father holding young children in Halloween clothes
Baby playing with a pumpkin
Houseplants

Frost and snow (first snow Oct 26) threatened every other week in October. I couldn’t handle the utter lack of produce from our planted-super-late garden, so I brought in basil, chard, kale, mint, and a cherry tomato that will almost certainly die. Our papaya tree is still happy and will be ready to transplant soon!

Playdate at the park, and new-to-me 35mm and 85mm lenses from Winterlyn Photography.

Baby having first bites

First bite! We gave her a bamba peanut butter puff and I loved the way she had to hold her hands to eat. She loves the peanut butter puffs but thinks we’ve poisoned her when we tried applesauce, banana, pear, and acorn squash.

Taste test between Adagio Ceylon tea and Whittard Ceylon tea. Adagio’s is maltier, Whittard’s is more complex. I prefer Whittard’s.

Meyer lemon seedlings and decorated gourd

My Meyer lemon seeds are sprouting! And here’s a decorative gourd my son painted that I get to proudly display in my home.

Family dressed up for Halloween

Halloween! My son and daughter are Link and Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda (we’ll just ignore the fact it’s a Sleeping Beauty dress; they don’t make baby Zelda costumes), and my husband and I went as Princess Anna and Kristoff from Frozen II. My daughter loved chewing on her dress.

Kids dressed up as Link and Princess Zelda
Four year old boy dressed up as Link
Father and baby daughter in Halloween costumes

An unconventional Halloween with all the social distancing, masks, candy chutes, and 1:30-5 PM trick or treating times, but it was still really fun!

Kristen Hazelton is an Oak Park, IL (Chicago, IL metro area) and Livermore, CA (San Francisco East Bay Area) senior, family, and engagement photographer. She occasionally photographs in San Diego, CA, Tucson, AZ, and Seattle, WA. You can inquire about your own photoshoot here!

+ show Comments

Comments, if any, will show up here!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

02

01

Seniors

Want fun, genuine, awkward-free photos? Come see the portfolio and learn more about the way Kristen Hazelton Photography captures your Senior Story.

Come See

Families

As a mom, I know that our time with our kids is precious, fleeting, and occasionally frustrating. I promise your photo experience with me will be frustration-free.

Learn More

Get On the List

Join the mailing list and be the first to know when my booking calendar goes live, and about limited edition snow and cap & gown sessions, :)

I send out just a few emails annually and will never share your email address.

yes, I'm in!

Want to hear about limited edition sessions?

Instagram

Find me on Instagram; I love making new friends!